Emulsifiable concentrate (EC) formulations conventionally contain an active ingredient, one or more surfactants which act as emulsifiers upon dilution of the EC with water, and a water immiscible solvent. Typical solvents for conventional EC formulations are aromatic hydrocarbons such as xylene, Shellsol A or Solvesso 200. These solvents have very low solubilities in water and are capable of dissolving a wide range of active ingredients.
Due to the presence of the solvent, many pesticides formulated as an EC have advantages such as a higher degree of systemicity and higher overall activity compared to the same pesticide formulated as a wettable powder (WP), water dispersible granule (WG) or suspension concentrate (SC).
The observed efficacy of the combination of ingredients can sometimes be significantly higher than that would be expected from the amounts of the individual ingredients used (synergism). The efficacy of the active components and handling of the spray dilution can often be improved by addition of other ingredients such as certain surfactants or defoamers.
In order to increase the ease and safety of handling and dosing of additional ingredients by the end-user, avoid unnecessary packaging material, it is desirable to develop concentrated formulations which already contain such surfactants and defoamers.
The International Patent Application WO 98/00008 discloses EC formulations containing one or more pesticides, three different kinds of non-ionic surfactants, a water-miscible cosolvent and a water-immiscible solvent. However, since no anti-foaming agent is used, it is likely that foaming would be a major problem with the dilutions of the described formulations due to the high loadings of surfactants.
Unfortunately, conventional anti-foam agents, such as silicone emulsions or silicone oils are usually not soluble in ECs.
European Patent Application EP 0 407 874 discloses aqueous crop protection formulations which contain sulfato- or sulfonato-containing surfactants and certain ammonium salts of perfluoroalkylphosphonic acids and/or perfluoroalkylphosphinic acids as foam breaking agents. However, there is no suggestion of non-aqueous EC formulations containing such foam breaking agents.